Myanmar s Kachin rebels shoot down military helicopter
Mon, May 3 2021 13:36 IST |
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Helicopter.. Image Source: IANS News
Kolkata, May 3 : The rebels of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) shot down a Myanmar military helicopter gunship when it was attacking their base on Monday. This is the first time a rebel group in the country has brought down a military helicopter after the Tatmadaw (military) started offensives against the country s multiple ethnic rebel armies in late April.
KIA s foreign liaison unit located somewhere near India s Arunachal Pradesh state informed IANS that the helicopter was brought down by rebel anti-aircraft fire at Momauk in Kachin state at 10.20 a.m. local Myanmar time on Monday.
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Amidst this development, the Myanmar government forces launched airstrikes against ethnic minority guerrillas in two areas of the country
The pro-democracy protestors in Myanmar, who are demanding the end of the military junta rule and restoration of a democratically elected government have now turned to rebels seeking their help. Many protestors are now heading to country’s remote borderlands to join a patchwork of rebel armies.
An international news agency in a report dated April 27, 2021, cites the Karen National Union (KNU) that protesters coming from the lowlands of central Myanmar have been trekking to the rebels’ hilly jungle redouts for training since late March. “We train people who want to be trained and who want to fight against the military regime,” the news agency quoted Maj. Gen. Nerdah Bo Mya, Chief of Staff of the Karen National Defense Organization, an armed wing of the KNU.
The gunship was struck as it was conducting a raid in Momauk, which has seen heavy fighting as the junta’s military attempts to retake a base seized by the KIA in March.
2021/05/03 21:24 FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2013, file photo, soldiers of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) stand on guard in Laiza, a border town of China and Myanmar, . FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2013, file photo, soldiers of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) stand on guard in Laiza, a border town of China and Myanmar, Kachin State, Myanmar. The Kachin Independence Army claims to have shot down a helicopter belonging to the government’s military Monday, May 3, 2021, in the course of heavy fighting over a strategic position. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win, File) In this March 17, 2018, photo, a Kachin Independence Army fighter walks along a jungle path from the Mu Du front line toward Hpalap outpost in an area.